After being missing for five days, the police finally found 78-year-old Mr Soh Eng Thong at the stairwell of a basement carpark at SingPost Centre on Tuesday afternoon (31 Aug).
Police told The Straits Times (ST) that they were alerted to a body at SingPost Centre around 3:15pm on Tuesday.
When they found Mr Soh, he was lying motionless. Reports say his body had already begun to decompose by then. Paramedics pronounced Mr Soh dead at the scene.
Police said investigations are ongoing. However, findings from preliminary investigations do not suggest foul play.
According to the Shin Min Daily News, the Soh family revealed that the late Mr Soh still had his personal belongings such as his wallet, ATM card and NRIC when he was found.
His son, David Soh, said at the wake on Wednesday morning: “My first reaction was to feel very angry… That was the first place we checked and we told them that was where he called us last.”
“How did he even get there, and when? We are still waiting for answers.”
According to Mr David Soh’s wife, Joyce Koo, her father-in-law had left their house at Block 10 Haig Road on Friday (27 August) evening to attend a wake. However, he did not return for the night.
Ms Koo told ST that the elder Mr Soh, a retired taxi driver, was independent and often went out on his own. He did not suffer from dementia, she noted.
In a Facebook post the next day, Ms Koo said the family received a phone call from the elder Mr Soh around 9 am on Saturday. He had mentioned that he was at the SingPost Centre taxi stand before the line cut off.
Ms Koo noted in the post that the late Mr Soh had a prostatitis medical condition.
The family was worried that he had not slept or eaten anything since he left home the night before.
According to ST, Mr Soh had spoken on the phone to his daughter, Ms Soh, telling her that his legs were tired.
He also said “bo khui”, which is Hokkien for “not open”. He told her that he needed a lift from the SingPost Centre.
However, the family couldn’t find him when they went to pick him up.
“Tried calling him but the phone went to voicemail and unable to reach him anymore,” said Ms Koo in her post.
The family reportedly searched the SingPost Centre, checking every floor including the toilet cubicles. They feared he might have fallen.
They even asked the security staff if they had seen the elderly man, but their efforts were fruitless.
According to reports in Chinese media, Mr Soh would go to the toilet discreetly due to his medical condition. This is why the family had focused their search efforts on all the toilet cubicles in the mall.
The police report was made around 3 pm on Saturday.
Failing to locate him in SingPost Centre, the family then set out to look for him at all the Paya Lebar malls and Haig Road HDB blocks. Still, they could not find him. They then started searching the Bedok area as well.
Despite all the help from members of the public in trying to find Mr Soh, the family expressed disappointment at how long it took for their father to finally be found. They are hoping for answers from the authorities.
Mr David Soh was quoted by ST, saying, “There are so many things we still don’t know, we can’t get any closure.”
On Wednesday morning, Shin Min Daily reported that the entrance of the stairwell that Mr Soh was found in appeared to be locked, based on their investigations. This implies that the stairwell is only accessible from within SingPost Centre.
They also noted that the staircase is the one near the loading bay, which is in a remote location not typically used by members of the public.
In an update of her original post, Ms Koo wrote that investigations were ongoing and that they were unable to reveal more information for now. She asked that the family be given space to grieve.
Netizens tried to help find the missing elder
When Ms Koo first published her post on Saturday evening, it quickly gained traction, being shared over 10,000 times by friends and strangers who wanted to help.
Some people suggested asking around in taxi Facebook groups or reaching out to taxi companies to see if he had gotten into one. Another person offered to ask around in their taxi group chat.
A few others suggested looking for him at hospitals, suggesting that he might have been brought into one if he was injured.
One person suggested reaching out to media companies to increase coverage of the story and help spread the word.
Another said they would ask their husband to be on the lookout for Mr Soh as he works in the area.
A couple of people also suggested that they use Mr Soh’s TraceTogether token to track his whereabouts.
However, Ms Koo noted on Saturday that the police said “not so fast”.
Another netizen suggested tracking Mr Soh’s whereabouts using the CCTVs around the island, and even tracking his phone.
However, Ms Koo noted that his phone had been uncontactable since Saturday and the CCTV only showed him leaving his house at Haig Road on Friday.
Ms Koo told ST that she received messages from around 20 strangers who offered to help.
“A lot of people just wanted to help. They messaged me, gave us ideas on where to look… Some of them thought they saw him and would send pictures of other uncles and video call us,” she said.
“We were very desperate and thought that we have to try everything,” added Ms Koo.
She said that she and her husband had also put up posters around the neighbourhood.
Similar experiences of being trapped in malls
As news of Mr Soh’s passing started to spread, netizens on ST’s Facebook page shared similar harrowing experiences they’ve had of being trapped in a SingPost Centre stairwell like Mr Soh.
They were, however, more fortunate, as their shouts were heard by others on the other side of the door.
A couple of people recounted the difficult time they had navigating the carpark levels at SingPost Centre due to several exits being closed.
Others shared similar experiences they’ve had in other buildings as well.
Many others questioned how Mr Soh could’ve been trapped in the stairwell for days without any security guard or building management staff noticing him.
